Monday, July 28, 2008

I'm baaaaaack!

Starting pitcher
M.C. O'Connor

I sure missed all the excitement. If I have to leave town in order for Matt Cain to throw shutouts, I will. I swear. We did get to listen to the last half of the game on the radio as we drove down I-5, so that was exciting.

Have you ever been to a Russian wedding? I had not. Let me tell you, those folks know how to have a good time. We also got to spend some time in the Russian River area (Guerneville and Monte Rio), which is quite beautiful. I had not been there since I was a wee lad. The Sonoma Coast is spectacular. We drove north on Highway 1 from Tomales--the mouth of the Russian is just south of Jenner. The beaches and coastal access points north of Bodega Bay are wonderful. I love living here in the State of Jefferson, but I do miss the ocean, so it was great to get a dose. Nothing like one of those cold onshore winds blowing in your face as the breakers crash and the pelicans dive into the surf.

1. BroB, Zo, way to "post up."2. Lewis rocks. But we knew that.3. Lincecum now feels Cain's pain.4. Matt Cain rocks. But we knew that.5. We stink. Most putrid-ly. But we knew that.6. When are we shipping out Roberts, Winn, Aurilia and Molina?7. Now that we aided and abetted AZ's quest for the NL West title, will that continue vs. LA?

43-61, .413 after 104 games. That projects to 67-95. We are still better than my 100-loss prediction, but I think we will be working hard to fulfill the prophecy in these next two months. After all, if we have any brains, we will throw every youngster we got out there while the rest of the league chases a pennant. OK, maybe not San Diego or Washington, but most of the rest.

Happy to home, me bhoyos, looking forward to seeing more Matt, Tim, and Fred. Let's beat the fookin' smogsuckers while we are at it, eh?

2 comments:

Zo
said...

6. When are we shipping out Roberts, Winn, Aurilia and Molina?

Decent question. I think the reason they keep showing up in the line-up is to keep them warm in other GM's imagination. So here is what I'm thinking: we take any prospect(s) we can get for these guys in this order - Roberts, Aurilia, Winn, Molina. Put Omar in between Aurilia and Winn. Baseball follows trends. Right now, the trend is inexpensive prospects with upside. Salary savings. Every team wants them except those that have a shot at the playoffs. Those teams are, Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Angels, Tigers, Twins, Mets, Phillies, maybe Atlanta, Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, Arizona and Los Angeles, and Colorado. LA just rented Casey Blake (Ned Colletti called him a gamer). Colorado was shopping Garret Atkins and Brian Fuentes until recently, when they are suddenly in the hunt. (Probably meaning O'Dowd is thouroughly confused. He may make a trade anyway because he can't help himself.) I understand the Mets are looking for an outfielder to fill in for Moises Alou. Maybe....an outfielder like Dave Roberts? The story from the NY Times was that the Mets were upstaged by the Yankess, had their eye on Xavier Nady. Oh, wait a minute, apparently the Braves have thrown in the towel - they are talking to Arizona, Boston, Angels and Rays about Mark Texiera. The Botox are rumored to be interested in Miggy Tejada for some obscure reason. So if there is a fit, maybe made by a desperate GM looking for something, anything, no matter how irrational (see: Colletti), we get even more prospects. That's part one. Then, we have a bunch of prospects to play with, we keep some around, and then be willing to trade a bunch of them for one or a couple good players who can do us some good before Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum are either retired or have left due to boredom, and whoa, baby, suddenly we have a team, supplemented by free agency if need be. That's part two. The Giants have money, we should be selling to stockpile valuable chips (or, if you prefer, chits). A bunch of raw youngsters that are not very good is not the answer, any more than a bunch of oldsters that are not very good is. The answer is what you might turn a bunch of youngsters into. Not Casey Blake! Good players. Brian Sabean does not get an offseason. One other point. After July 31, a player only has to clear waivers to be traded. Does anyone think that Dave Roberts or Richie Aurilia, or even Omar Vizquel would not clear waivers? The rallying cry is "Chits not shits!"

"If I have to leave town in order for Matt Cain to throw shutouts, I will. I swear."

Now that is exactly the kind of quote I have been hoping to generate around here! You can BET I will pull this out every so often over the next few years.

Last night was an odd victory. To start we were blessed by two out seeing eye hits and scored a bunch, then we went blind and didn't reach base. On the other hand, our pitching started good then exploded into shit, then regrouped to slam the door shut. Psycho game, psycho team. This whole season has been fun to watch, in a sick S&M kind of way.